I’m wondering about some opinions on bandsaws. I decided to bite the bullet and drop a grand on one, but after much research and conflicting comparisons, I’m kind of at a loss on what to think. For the price, the Rikon ($700) 14” bandsaw looks like a good comprimise financially, but of course I’m looking at the Laguna’s value line ($1,100). Which is awesome, but $400 more? I could get that new woodriver 13 planer with a helical head. Then again, this is one of the industries that follows the ‘get what you pay for’ mode almost more than any other I’ve experienced. Steel city looks nice, as well as general machinery…

and lastly, I’m wondering if I’ll have buyer’s regret if I get a 14 then realize I should’ve spent just a little more to get the 18 ?

Sorry, I know that’s a lot, but any tips would be helpful.

Thanks, Will

-- Burn your fire for no witness

12 replies so far

The 14 vs 18 inch question should be answered by what you are going to do with it. If you plan to resaw a lot of logs that came straight form the ground or a lot of really really big bowl blanks that are going to be larger then say 20” in diameter then an 18” might be a better option.

If you plan to do some small resawing and some curves then a 14” is great.

I don’t own either saw. But I belong to a woodworking club in the back of a woodcraft and I pass the Laguna 1412 all the time. That is the saw you should buy if you have the money. It is superior in every way. They may look superficially similar. But there are quite a few differences. One of the major ones is the trunnion assembly. The Laguna has giant cast iron trunions and two of them that are double wide. The Rikon, well I think its pot metal but don’t swear me to it. Certainly they are much weaker looking. Will they work? Sure, but with these machines the more metal you throw at something the less vibration you have. And since your table and anything you put on it rests on these trunions its good to have strong ones.

I probably had 5 hours into it trying to get it tuned up right after the initial setup. The wheel adjustment is cumbersome and can take some time to figure out and achieve the right balance.

After a year. the tire on the drive wheel walked itself off the wheel. That was $50, as I replaced both tires at that point. Over the course of a year I’ll bet it only had 10 hours running time at most.

One of the guide bearings locked up, and the guide adjustments are annoying and inaccurate. I haven’t brought myself to do the Carter upgrades everybody seems to recommend.

The dust collection is dismal, but if you take an angle grinder to the metal cover that covers most of the dust port it works better.

On the plus side, the capacity is great, and I haven’t had any issues with the motor. The construction itself is pretty solid, and I plan to keep mine for a good long time as it’ll be cheaper to fix the few things wrong that sell it and buy another.

This is the only bandsaw I’ve owned though, so I can’t provide a comparison against what that extra $400 might get you. Better guides could be part of it.

The best advice giveaways to figure out what you are going to use it for????? That is the question and answer you need to decide how big and how heavily built a machine you need or want. If it is for hobby use and a couple hours a week then a lower end machine will be fine. If you are going to resaw a lot of wide wood, then you need a heavy duty machine.

I’ve got the Griz 17” and I use it exclusively for resaw. I have it setup tuned and don’t touch it. Good saw going on 10+ years. I’ve upgraded a few things like the guides and the fence, and put the Laguna blade on it. Cut’s great.

However, it ain’t no Laguna! Blade change over and tuning is a PIA big time. Not sub par and its good once it’s dialed in. The laguna with ceramic guides, big openings to get to the blade is really nice. I’d not put it in the same class as laguna.

I have a 1934 Delta 14” for day-to-day cutting with a 1/4” blade on it and carter guide. I use it fall all small stuff. I picked it up for a couple hundred off CL.

In the end it depends on how you intend to use it. I think you get what you pay for, but also get the best you can afford. I know that too.

JoelB : are you happy with the 14” Jet, I m thinking bout getting one of those. Mainly for bandsawboxes and cutting 4 to 6” boards in thinner boards. Would apreciate a feedback.

- Theo

31

I just bought it and its still in back of my van, too heavy too lift it out until I get help this weekend.I will try to post a review once i get it up and running. As far as the construction goes it seems pretty robust.

An 18” or larger saw is handy for notching out dust panels,making parts for furniture repair and template work forfurniture. It’s a marginal increase in convenience butthe time saved does add up. You won’t notice if allyou’ve used is a smaller saw or just use a saw for rippingand resawing.

For furniture the saw is really the most creatively inspiringmachine. It makes all sorts of silly mockups and funnyshapes easy to try out. I making chair mockup andpatterns for steam bending the band saw is an essentialtool for me and mine has a 20” throat and makes somany things easier. A bending form for a curved chairrail is about 16-19” wide. The template work could be done on a 14” saw but it’s a more relaxed process todo it in between the column and the blade on the20” saw.

I bought a Shopfox 1707 in 09, with intentions for resawing, but it pretty much does all the jobs any 14” does. I haven’t done it yet but sometime in the near future I’m buying a 10” bench BS for the 1/8” blade jobs, I’m doing more with the scroll saw now than when I bought it in the early 90s, some of the projects are stressing the SS out.

The longer you have the tool and the more work you get involved with the more you’ll expect from it. I could have bought a dedicated mortiser with the money I would have saved buying a lighter BS but I already use my drill press for that and don’t do mortising often enough.